I had officially come to the decision (along with the help of my husband and homebuilder of a father) that it was absolutely most cost efficient for us to buy vacant land and build a house. A small energy efficient house. All of the places that we looked at needed new roofs, new windows, new furnace, etc. We figured it was less expensive to put these on a new house. So when I finally heard back from the loan officer at the FSA that they would not approve funds for the building of a house it took the wind out of my sails. I called around and to see if there was some way that this could still work and it seems like there is not, at least not on my budget.
I spent the better part of the day yesterday freaking out and looking through real estate listings. Someone seriously needs to stop me from looking through these listings. We simply cannot afford what it is that we want and spending hours combing through these listings is not going to change that. We have been over this so many times and revised where we are willing to make compromises. In the end it turns out that I am still financially uncomfortable moving an hour away from the city and living in a drafty old house that needs a lot of work. The dollars just are not there. They might be some day, maybe even someday soon, but right now they are not so the deal is off. We are not buying land this year. I am hoping to work something out with Grandpa. He has really been resistant to change but there has to be a way to do something that will help a little. I have decided that there are three things that I really need to make this farming operation profitable:
1. More land.
2. Some really great plants. You know the type that are a little pricey up front and take a few years to get established.
3. Infrastructure. Like a well, a greenhouse, a shade tent.
I can really only afford two of the three, so I am hoping that a little more land will materialize in the form of a long term lease. Again, cross your fingers for me.
becoming a flower farmer 
Move closer to me and let’s make a partnership and use the 3 acres and greenhouse I already have and the half hoophouse! We could have fun doing oh so many weddings!
Stay hopeful it will come, you are being smart about it. I did what you are choosing not to do and now I have a coon living under my kitchen crawl space! Hang in there you are resourceful. But I understand the blow. take a deep breath and regroup! Love you flower sister!
Best wishes to you both. I spent the last few months of my life in a frantic hunt for a house and it was so stressful I think it actually made me sick on one occasion. With low inventory, the good properties were getting snatched up within a day of them being listed. Many, many properties were neglected or were forclosures and needed too much work. And the stuff that was left always seemed to be right next to railroad tracks, be in a bad area, or had zombie problems. I know your situation is more complex with trying to find land as your primary objective. Stay strong; with the market finally starting to finally recover we should see more people selling land and houses by the end of this summer (and therefore expanded inventory).
We go back and forth over whether or not we should fix up our old place, tear it down and build on the foundation, or just build a new house. I’d go with the latter, except that putting in the foundation/cellar and bringing in utilities is a big expense. We’ve been putting off the decision, but are doing little things to make our place more livable. I think of us as camping – it might not be much of a house, but it’s a really great tent.